Gyrodactylus salaris

Gyrodactylus salaris is a parasite that attacks salmon, and when enough parasites are attached to a salmon, the salmon dies.

The Gyrodactylus salaris parasite occurs naturally in the Baltic rivers of Finland and Russia, and the salmon there seem to be tolerant of it.

In the early 70`s, it was accidentally introduced into some rivers in Norway by importing live fish from infected sources in Sweden, and it has now resulted in some of the rivers in Norway being completely devoid of salmon.

So far, there are no infections in the UK, and the UK is recognised by the EU as being infection free. This infection-free status allows Britain to operate very tight EU approved controls on the importation of live fish. In Britain, Gyrodactylus salaris is a notifiable disease.

However, one possible route for the parasite to be imported into Britain is via the equipment and clothing used by people engaged in water related activities such as canoeing, rafting, and fishing. The parasite can live for several days in wet or damp areas in equipment and clothing. It is therefore essential that if you have been paddling in many European countries, especially Norway and Sweden, or any other country where the parasite exists, all your equipment and clothing is properly sterilised before leaving Europe, and again after you return to Britain.

According to the DEFRA website, as well as the well documented infections in Norway and Sweden, other European countries in which the parasite has been recorded include Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, and Denmark.

In Norway in particular, there is a stand-off between the veterinary and fishing interests on the one side, and canoeing interests on the other side, as to whether canoeing or kayaking should be banned from various affected rivers. One result of this is that dis-infection stations have been set up at various petrol stations, and the Norwegian Canoe Association is very keen for canoeists and kayakers to use them, and to be seen to be using them. According to the Norwegian Canoe Association, a large proportion of the rivers in Norway used for kayaking are not infected with the parasite, however sterilisation is neither difficult nor expensive, so it is a sensible precautionary measure to take anyway.

A good source of information about Gyrodactylus salaris relevant to canoeing in Scotland, and about sterilisation, is the Scottish Canoe Association - their website is at "http://canoescotland.org".

The DEFRA website has a downloadable .pdf file about the sterilisation of fishing equipment.

There would be a significant environmental impact if the parasite was imported into the Tay, or any other salmon river in Britain, as the parasite multiplies very fast, and quickly kills all the salmon in the infected river. So please take note of all this, if you are planning to go, or have just returned from, paddling in European rivers.

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